1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for outputting an image using information received from a radio contact element that is attached to a document or an output medium, preventing a leakage of information to the outside of the apparatus or crosstalk of information within the apparatus when communicating with the radio contact element, and increasing an added value of document information.
2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, along wide diffusion of information technologies using the Internet and personal computers, business enterprises prepare various kinds of electronic information and output the prepared information on paper using image output apparatuses such as copying machines and printers, in their intelligent manufacturing activities. Output documents are distributed to share the information at meetings or the like, and are used for intelligent manufacturing activities. Recipients of the documents carry them home for storage as they are, or convert the contents into image information using an image reading apparatus and keep an image file according to the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). In order to use the information for activities, the documents are further copied, or the information stored in a JEPG image file is directly output and is processed using a personal computer.
While the contents of the received document are analog information, it is preferable to convert the information into digital information to reuse or reprocess the information. The conversion of analog information into digital information with an optical image reading apparatus causes degradation in the quality of the information due to physical factors of modulation transfer function (MTF) characteristics of lenses or charge-coupled devices (CCDs).
When the amount of information increases after conversion into image information, the information amount can be reduced by image compression. However, the compression causes degradation in image quality.
Document information contained in paper can be extracted as text data by image processing with an optical character reader (OCR). However, this method has a problem in that quality of the information obtained from the document is degraded depending on conversion precision.
A person originally prepares electronic information using a personal computer, and outputs the information using a certain image output apparatus to prepare the document. Therefore, this electronic information is present. Accordingly, both the output document and the electronic information can be distributed. However, the electronic information must be delivered using a separate recording medium such as a flexible disk (FD), a compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), or a compact disk recordable (CD-R), or with an e-mail via the Internet, which is troublesome.
In the meantime, as reported in “RFID tag for attaching information to objects, and its application”, August 1999, Information Processing Society of Japan journal, Volume 40, No. 8, pp. 846-850, a radio frequency identification (RFID) technique for electronically holding individual information and non-contact transmitting this information according to electromagnetic induction is developed and is started to be applied to management of object identification.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-337426 discloses the following technique. An RFID tag is attached to a document. Image data of the document and ID (identification) information of a person who makes copy, or ID information of a person who transmits the information are written into the RFID tag. With this arrangement, the image is printed and digital data is written onto paper, and whether a person is authorized to operate the transmission is determined, thereby giving permission to copy or transmit the information. However, the technique does not assume writing of plural pieces of information into the RFID chip, and does not describe how to selectively use desired information.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-190911 discloses the following technique. Copy-inhibited information is written into a non-contact memory on a recording medium, and copy inhibition procedure is taken when this information is read. This publication does not assume writing of plural pieces of information into the non-contact memory either, and prohibition procedure cannot be taken when the copy-inhibited information cannot be properly read.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-132474 discloses the following technique. An optional character or information surrounded by marks is deleted from output image information, thereby avoiding an output of an image within a certain range. This is based on an instruction from a host computer or the like, and an RFID chip attached to a document is not utilized. Therefore, it is difficult to relate computer instruction to individual documents.
When information is exchanged by radio using an RFID chip, this has a risk that the information is received at the outside of the apparatus during communication. Particularly when the information recorded in the RFID chip is confidential information, this has a risk of a leakage of the confidential information to the outside, which is dangerous. When plural RFID chips are accommodated in the apparatus, crosstalk occurs inside the apparatus, which has a problem that proper information cannot be received and that an image is output based on wrong information.
According to techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2000-285203, 2001-287477, 2001-167237, and 2002-324224, an IC chip, an IC tag, or an IC card is embedded into paper or attached to the surface of paper before printing. However, according to a dry electro-photographic system currently used in a copying machine or a printer, an image is electrically formed using a charged particle containing a pigment made of a resin such as a toner as a developing particle. In electrostatically transferring the image onto the paper, a high voltage of 500 volts to 10 kilovolts is applied, and the IC chip cannot function due to the influence of static electricity.